Archive for January, 2010

As posted to CleanTechBlog.com

A few weeks ago, the legendary Bell Labs, now the R&D engine behind Alcatel-Lucent, announced the launch of a new global initiative called Green Touch.

The goal of Green Touch is to “create the technologies needed to make communications networks 1,000 times more energy efficient than they are today.” To put that in perspective, the Green Touch rollout press release noted that a thousand-fold reduction in energy consumption would power the world’s communication networks for three years with the amount of energy now consumed in one day.

Given the likely continuance of exponential demand increases for bandwidth around the globe, the need to make communications technologies radically more energy efficient will be critical - or else.

The founding members of Green Touch are a who’s-who of high technology, including enormous telecoms like AT&T and China Mobile, academic research labs such as MIT’s Research Laboratory for Electronics and Stanford University’s Wireless Systems Labs, and industrial labs (not only Bell Labs but Samsung’s Advanced Institute of Technology).

Green Touch is seeking additional collaboration partners, so if you’re interested and can contribute materially, it should be a fascinating table at which to sit.

As posted to CleanTechBlog.com

Last week, E/The Environmental Magazine announced its Best Green Tech Innovations of 2009.

It’s unclear what criteria were used to select the winners, but I was impressed by the fact that I had not previously heard of any of these products or technologies. Since they were all news to me, I don’t know enough about any of them to have a favorite.

I’m also struck by the observation that the list represents innovation involving large corporations like Ford and Sony, as well as tiny start-ups and individual inventors.

I used to pride myself on being pretty well-informed about the cleantech arena, but being unable to remain abreast of developments on so many fronts is a vivid illustration of how robust the cleantech space is becoming. I’ll gladly sacrifice the comprehensiveness of my awareness and understanding for increasing velocity from an exploding number of innovators – including industrial powerhouses – in the cleantech marketplace.

As posted to CleanTechBlog.com

Did you know that yesterday, Jan. 10, was “National Cut Your Energy Costs Day?” Until a couple days ago, I didn’t. That is, until the folks at SunRun, a provider of residential solar energy systems, promoted the day by sending out the following blast email:

“Five quick tips on how cut costs and save energy this new year:

1. Power Strips: Plug your TV, computer, and other home electronics into power strips and flip the switch when they’re not in use. Even when appliances are turned off, they’re still running on phantom energy. If you don’t use power strips, remember to unplug your appliances when you’re done with them.

2. CFLs: Switch out your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. CFLs last up to 10 times longer than and use about one-fourth the energy of incandescents.

3. Solar Panels: Reduce your electricity costs by installing solar panels in your home. You use the same amount of energy but pay less for it, because you can lock in a rate with solar rather than be subject to your utility’s rate increases.

4. Sleep mode: Set your computers to sleep mode, rather than screen saver mode, when not in use. It takes about 100 watts/hour to run a screen saver on your graphics card. Cut energy costs by letting your screen go black.

5. Air sealing: Seal cracks and openings to prevent outside air from otherwise entering your house. Paired with proper insulation, air sealing can increase energy efficiency and drastically reduce your heating and cooling costs.”

Well, truth be told, #3 really isn’t an energy-saving tip, but I’ll cut SunRun some slack because at least they are honest in pointing out that anyone interested in solar energy should first implement all cost-effective energy efficiency possibilities. It’s crazy, but too often the case, for someone to install a solar energy system when the building itself is terribly inefficient. There’s no point in generating relatively expensive electricity and then wasting it – especially when the costs to avoid the waste are often so modest.

We’ll have made real progress in this country when every day is National Cut Your Energy Costs Day.

As posted to CleanTechBlog.com

One of the virtues touted for the so-called “smart grid” of the future is the ability to help customers manage their appliance usage better, and thereby reduce unnecessary energy consumption. However, since people are heavily influenced by economic considerations, fully capturing this opportunity presupposes that customers understand how much money (that is, energy) they could save by reducing consumption at any moment in time.

As profiled in the January/February 2010 issue of Technology Review, a company called Talon Communications has developed a neat little product called the “edot” to address this issue. 

The edot communicates wirelessly with a house’s “smart meter” to fetch updates on real-time power prices, thereby indicating when power prices are relatively high or low. At roughly $10 per unit, the magnetic edot can be stuck to many major appliances around the house, providing an on-the-spot indicator to the user whether or not it’s an especially good (i.e., lucrative) time to turn off or reduce power.

No, the edot will not save the world, but it is indicative of the many tiny but reinforcing elements necessary to bring the smart grid to full fruition – and to bring intelligence to energy decision-making at the household level.